Shout out to the people/machines that build crates because this process wasn’t easy! Despite the time and labor that this project took, I’m happy with the result. I can’t wait to take this crate home at the end of the semester and use it, which is why I wanted to work alone. I also decided on doing the intermediate level since I’ve had experience with woodworking before. First, I started taking notes of the constraints and requirements that were laid out in the project description. I also sketched out my box and wrote out how many pieces of wood I would need and their sizes.
I tried to start as early as possible to spread out my work over days rather than rushing at the end. On Sunday 1/21 I came to the OEDK and started inspecting the wood. I might have been the first person to start cutting because the piles were still bound together. This was perfect because I got the first pick of the wood. There were many with “imperfections”, but my goal was to pick pieces that would need the least “fixing” in the post-processing phase. After I picked them out, I started measuring out my lengths and attempted to leave a margin for error. I cut the 2x2s to 12 inches, the 6 short side pieces to a little more than 12 inches, and the 3 bottom pieces and 6 long side pieces to a little more than 14.5 inches. I chose these sizes because I intended for the short side pieces to be on the outside (where the ends could be seen) and the long side pieces to be sandwiched in between. I figured I could sand down some pieces to even them out once I was ready to assemble.
On Monday 1/22, I worked on planing all my wood. Unfortunately, I forgot that the planar would remove wood, so the measurements that I had written were erased. From here, I started writing important things on the ends, such as labels.
On Tuesday 1/23, I started sanding to even out the lengths of the pieces and putting together my first frame. That day, I learned the important lesson of putting my name on things because someone accidentally picked up my piece of wood and I had to cut a new one. I planned and measured where I would put my screws, but my first set was a little too close to the end for my liking. Also with my counter sink, sometimes I would go deeper than I anticipated, but it worked out in the end.
On Thursday 1/25, I finished my two other frames and sanded them a little bit to fix alignment issues. I started using the 60 grit, but after I finished, Dr. Wettergreen suggested I use 120 grit next time…the more you know.
On Saturday 1/27, I finally got to routing everything. I used the hand router on all of my frames and then used a different bit on my 2×2 posts.
I also used plastic wood to cover up my screws so that my box would look seamless. I’d used something similar to this product in my sculpture class last year, so I asked Dr. Wettergreen about it. This process also led me to take out some of my screws and countersink the holes some more so that the plastic wood would be effective. I screwed in two of my bottom pieces and covered those holes as well.
On Sunday 1/28, I started sanding the frames where I had routed so that they smoothly blended together. Then I was ready to assemble the box. Unfortunately, when I started spacing using some scrap 1x4s, I realized there was extra space at the top, but to make the process easier, I decided to just sand down the posts to size.
I also needed to do my handle for the top of the box, so I drew out a square that was a little bigger than the width of my fingers. I planned to use the scroll saw to cut out the pieces, but it was out of commission. Instead, I had to resort to savagery – using a saw, chisel, and mallet. It’s just my luck that as I was using the chisel to cut out the second handle, the wood cracked. There was no way I was going to cut a new piece of wood, so I put some wood glue in the crack and clamped it to ensure it would set properly. After this, to my relief, I screwed in the final frame.
I filled the new holes with wood plastic and worked on other things while they dried. Finally, I was able to sand all sides of my box and spray paint.
In total, I spent about 17 hours on this project – 2 hours of planning/blogging and the rest is work time. I don’t know how I spent this much time on this box, but I did. With a $15/hr rate, my labor was worth $255. For materials, I used about 17 feet of 1x4s and 4 feet of 2x2s. Based on Lowes, a 1x4x8 is $3.35, which is $0.42 per foot, and a 2x2x8 is $5.18, which is $0.65 per foot. I used a tube of plastic wood, which was $7 according to Home Depot. I also used 48 screws, which are $0.16 each, adding up to $7.68. For the spray paint, a 12-ounce blue can is $7.98, and I estimate that I used about an ounce, which is $0.66. By my calculations, the total cost of materials was $25.08. Hopefully, in the future, I can be more efficient in my work to cut down on that labor cost.
